Like you I am amazed...and disgusted....by the type of sneering at Conor Benn. For one so young, debuting in front of a huge crowd on a massive bill, I thought he did very very well. Initial impressions are good....he looks better than cej did after 10 + fights. Like cej though I don't think Connor is a huge puncher, based on first sight.
19 years old, huge crowd, ppv, undercard of the country's favourite heavyweight and the expectation of him being as good as his old man. I reckon he did ok.
You could count on one hand the number of middleweights with more punching power than CEJ, that suggests to me he does have huge punching power.
I find it funny that people say he cant fight like that with his power, he is 19 years old so he hasn't got any strength compared to what he will have at say 25 years old, also its down to technique, something he will learn from experience and doing a lot of work in the gym.
This is why eubank sr wanted out..using then to boost numbers...if jeter was eubank jrs debut like conor i Would understand...but eubank. Aj. Benn in future. And the rest of the stable Would have produced huge numbers every time
He started not that long ago. Very green. Fighting in auz will be a much lower standard than here. Think he did good considering the size of crowd and occasion. He's got a big act to follow I don't envy him. But he will make more due to his name
The criticism is quite astonishing really. He no doubt felt obligated to put on a show, what with 20k people watching and his old man looking on so consequently, technique kinda like went out the window. What he did show was a real desire, sharp, fast punches if not necessarily correct and a mature post fight attitude. He's 19 yrs old for gods sake and a novice of only 22 amateur bouts so has an awful lot to learn and a lot growing up to do. Strength wise he's likely a good 5 years off his peak and could grow through several weight divisions yet ala Nathan Cleverly who started out at welterweight.
I wasn't talking about him going up to super heavy FFS!....could see him settling at light middle perhaps....who knows
He's 19 years of age on his debut and people are being hypercritical of him already!? Give the kid a chance FFS!
It's not possible to say where he will level off based on a professional debut. He handled the atmosphere well and stopped the opponent legitimately - wasn't a rollover thumb-suck. I feel sorry for him already in that he will be given the Eubank Jr treatment of having to go over and above each and every time simply in order for people not to be hyper-critical. Unlike Euabnk Jr, Conor seems (sorry buddy) quite thick... so hopefully this will just fail to register for him. I thought the most noteworthy thing about this fight was the sheer amount of kissing on the lips that Nigel was dishing out. Plain old-fashioned weirdness.
How can you give the kid stick? He's only 19 years old, only been boxing a few years with what 22/23 amateur fights under his belt and was making his debut in front of 20,000 fans on a PPV event. I thought he handled it well, yeah he took a few shots here and there but given the occasion making his debut and the expectation of being "Nigel Benn's boy" it's easy to see why he got excited bombing forward. Look forward to seeing more of him and watching him improve.
